Meet your planet: related news

Astronomers Claim Discovery of Earth-like Planet

Raver32 writes "A team of astronomers announced they have discovered the smallest and potentially most Earth-like extrasolar planet yet. Five times as massive as Earth, it orbits a relatively cool star at a distance that would provide earthly temperatures as well, signaling the possibility of liquid water. "The separation between the planet and its star is just right for having liquid water at its surface," says astronomer and team spokesperson Stephane Udry of the Observatory of Geneva in Versoix, Switzerland. "That's why we are a bit excited." But researchers do not yet know if the planet contains water, if it is truly rocky like Earth, which might make it hospitable to life as we know it, or whether it is blanketed by a thick atmosphere. "What we have," Udry says, "is the minimum mass of the planet and its separation" from its star.

A planet-sized debate

Later this week the Applied Physics Laboratory of The Johns Hopkins University will host a three-day conference and educators’ workshop titled “The Great Planet Debate”. The purpose of the event, in the words of its organizers, is straightforward: “[T]o explore a basic, but controversial, question: What is a planet?” The highlight of the conference: a debate between planetary scientist Mark Sykes and astronomer Neil deGrasse Tyson over whether Pluto should be classified as a planet.

Study Concludes "Planet" Was Just Stellar Spots

Kligat writes "Back in January, it was reported that the youngest planet ever to be discovered, about ten times the mass of Jupiter, was orbiting the eight- to ten-million-year-old star TW Hydrae. Now a Spanish research team has concluded that TW Hydrae b doesn't exist, and that cold spots on the star's surface actually produced the dip in brightness instead of a transiting planet. Not as cool as if a planet had actually been there, but refutations are science, too, right?"

Observing an Evaporating Extrasolar Planet

Observations of planets orbiting other stars are becoming increasingly common as astronomical techniques become more and more sophisticated. But some extrasolar planets have a stronger than normal spectroscopic signature, often stronger than their optical signature. What could be causing this? In a recent study, observations of the extrasolar planet HD 209458b (also unofficially known as "Osiris", which orbits a star in the constellation of Pegasus) revealed the strongest ever spectroscopic signature for a giant extrasolar planet, indicating Osiris is producing a huge cloud of gas. This gas is being lost from the planet's atmosphere; Osiris is evaporating…

Big Brother is Watching Over the Red Planet

We have security cameras watching our daily habits, we watch voyeuristic TV shows of social misfits trapped in a house, we use webcams to transmit our musings on Youtube and we are constantly being monitored by hi-res satellite cameras. What can we possibly survey now? Surely every inch of the planet is under someone's watchful eye? This planet maybe. By a stroke of luck, ESA scientists have just realised that a surplus camera on board the Mars Express orbiter could be switched back on and used as an interplanetary webcam. Big Brother is now keeping a watchful eye on the Red Planet too…

NASA seeks next Carl Sagan - and extraterrestrial life

An image of the planet Mercury, made during the January 2008 flyby of the planet by the Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft is seen in this image released by NASA July 3, 2008. An image of the planet Mercury, made during the January 2008 flyby of the planet by the Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft is seen in this image released by NASA July 3, 2008. (REUTERS/NASA/JHUAP/ Arizona State University/Handout)

TBWA wins creative duties for Planet M Retail

Planet M Retail, the music retail store earlier known as Planet M, has appointed TBWA Mumbai as its creative agency. The win follows a multi-agency pitch by four agencies, including TBWA.

Meet the Bloggers

Brave New Films is starting a web series called "Meet the Bloggers," where Internet commentators get to ask questions of political types. It's like "Meet the Press," but with better questions from folks who spend all day in the weeds on this stuff.

Lonely Planet Audio Phrasebooks available for iPhone and iPod touch

Lonely Planet’s Audio Phrasebooks for iPhone and iPod touch are now available for sale on the Apple App Store in all territories, providing travelers with mobile access to Lonely Planet’s phrasebook content in 10 languages.

MESSENGER Provides New Data On Planet Mercury

Data from the first flyby of the planet Mercury in January of 2008 by the spacecraft MESSENGER are reported in eleven papers this week in the journal Science. The findings reveal new details about the solar system's smallest planet 77 million kilometers from Earth. VOA's Jessica Berman reports.

"Pluto Huggers" Fight to Renew Planet Status

Two years after Pluto was ousted from the planet lineup, some supporters of the now dwarf planet are fighting to restore its title. But others say it's time to move on.

Pluto controversy rages as planet debate continues

TWO years after the controversial decision to strip Pluto of its status as a planet, astronomers are still unable to agree on how to define "planet". And the task is growing more difficult as scientists grapple to account for the increasing number of weird worlds found circling other stars.

Meet your planet

"Earth: The Biography" is hosted by geologist Iain Stewart. A computer image shows hot plumes circulating from the Ea... An iceberg floats off the coast of Ilulissat Icefjord, Gr... Jelly fish, Jelly Fish lake, Palau

PSI Director Promotes 13-Planet Solar System During Great Planet Debate

Home | More News - Upcoming Events - Space Station - Get our Daily Newsletter | RSS/XML News Feeds Available

India's first Caf in store at Planet M outlets launched at Hyderabad; Planet M Retail to launch 250 such cafe-in-stores in the next three years

Submit your press release to India's only FREE Online Press Release Distribution Service. Click here to get started...

Rock Stars to Send DNA Into Space

Operation Immortality(TM), the project to create a digital time capsule of the human race, has joined forces with Planet Make-Over, an entertainment driven social network designed to demonstrably reverse the effects of Global Warming. This alliance aims to unite and mobilize the worldwide gaming community with Planet Make-Over's mission by sending the digitized DNA of rock stars Eric Johnson, Patrice Pike and Planet Make-Over's Musical Director, Stephen Bruton into space with video gaming luminary Richard Garriott as he travels to the International Space Station (ISS) on Oct. 12, 2008.

NASA Spacecraft Shows Diverse, Wet Environments on Ancient Mars

WASHINGTON, July 16 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Two studies based on data from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have revealed that the Red Planet once hosted vast lakes, flowing rivers and a variety of other wet environments that had the potential to support life. One study, published in the July 17 issue of Nature, shows that vast regions of the ancient highlands of Mars, which cover about half the planet, contain clay minerals, which can form only in the presence of water. Volcanic lavas buried the clay-rich regions during subsequent, drier periods of the planet's history, but impact craters later exposed them at thousands of locations across Mars. The data for the study derives from images taken by the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars, or CRISM, and other instruments on the orbiter.

Kodak image sensors gear up for space mission

As the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) approaches the third anniversary of its launch, imaging technology from Kodak continues to enable the orbiter to explore the red planet. Using images captured by the company's CCD image sensors, the orbiter will soon fulfill one of its primary mission objectives—the collection of a full Martian year of weather data for the planet—and has already mapped over one-third of the planet's entire surface.

Meet Gordon, a robot with a biological brain

PARIS: Meet Gordon, probably the world's first robot controlled exclusively by living brain tissue. Stitched together from cultured rat neurons, Gordon's primitive grey matter was designed at the University of Reading by scientists who unveiled the neuron-powered machine.

Meet the Blogger

In response to my rant about Gore on Meet the Press, a certain boss of my acquaintance asked me what questions I would have asked. Here are a few:

The Planet Enhances Virtual Private Rack Solution With Gigabit Speed, VPN Services

The Planet, the world’s largest privately held dedicated hosting company, today announced the addition of Gigabit speed and Virtual Private Network (VPN) services to its virtual private rack solution.

The Planet Enhances Virtual Private Rack Solution with Gigabit Speed, VPN Services

HOUSTON - The Planet, the world’s largest privately held dedicated hosting company, today announced the addition of Gigabit speed and Virtual Private Network (VPN) services to its virtual private rack solution. These upgrades offer the benefits of enhanced net

MOVIE REVIEW: 'Meet Dave' and 'Journey to the Center of the Earth': Playing for laughs or thrills, but mostly, playing it safe

'Meet Dave' and 'Journey to the Center of the Earth': Playing for laughs or thrills, but mostly, playing it safe

Dwarf planet named for Polynesian god

WASHINGTON - A dwarf planet orbiting beyond Neptune has been designated the third plutoid in the solar system and given the name Makemake, the International Astronomical Union said on Saturday.

Dwarf planet near Pluto named for Polynesian god

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A dwarf planet orbiting beyond Neptune has been designated the third plutoid in the solar system and given the name Makemake, the International Astronomical Union said on Saturday.

Search took 0.05 seconds.